There’s not too much detail to give out that hasn’t been distributed previously, but the next few months are expected to see a strong groundswell of determined opposition begin to coalesce among environmentally-oriented organizations and groups on the coast of B.C. with the sole objective of trying to bring a halt to government’s supported plans for hundreds of run-of-the river (RoR) power projects.
With one major project already under construction in the Toba Inlet area and a bunch of other much smaller programs already up and running in various areas of the province, residents and others in the general area of Stuart Island let it be known that they intend to take up the issue and cause outside the tourist season - during the quieter winter time before Plutonic Power is expected to produce its environment impact studies on the Bute Inlet proposal next spring.
Based on that, Quadra islander Anita Brochocka of the Friends of Bute Inlet action group, was asked to put together a briefing out at Stuart Island Community Hall recently, aimed particularly at people who spend much of their summer in the remote community.
The event, which was attended by lodge operators, fishing guides and other concerned people from the surrounding island archipelago, brought out representatives and members of the Sierra Club of BC from as far as Victoria, and heard several impassioned presentations from environmental activists becoming increasingly hardened to the ways of Premier Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government in Victoria.
The meeting, which saw a boatload of interested observers and potential supporters arrive from Campbell River and nearby Quadra Island, made it clear that there is a growing skepticism about promises and company statements that are being made regarding the massive new project, not the least in regard to the repeated claims that the additional power generation is needed in BC at this time and that salmon-bearing habitat in the numerous streams and rivers to be used in the project will not be adversely affected.
In particular, it was stated that the peak power generating and production time, in the spring freshet season, will coincide not with the time of highest power demand in BC, which is during the winter, but during the height of the demand by Californians for their air-conditioning systems.
Considerable concern was expressed that the Campbell government has increasingly turned over not just power production but also control over the power lines to the BC grid to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), who are being promised better prices from BC Hydro than the utility is currently charging homeowners.
And serious doubts and fears were expressed about the environmental effects and implications of roads that are being installed to access the proposed power-generating weirs, about the visual impact of the tall power lines taking the power from the power stations to the grid through pristine wilderness areas, and about what will be needed to maintain the roads and lines and access to them in the area’s winter storms.
One of the greatest concerns at the meeting was about monitoring and enforcement of environmental rules and regulations in the remote and mountainous inlet area, should the project be allowed to finally go ahead.
It was noted that at the meeting, attendees were told that rather than simply nay-saying the project, which is supported by First Nations in the area for economic development reasons, those opposing the program need to come up with good and viable alternative economic-development proposals for local native people.